Golf tee



March 31, 1925 D. ROBINSON GOLF TEE Filad'June 2:5, 1924 Patented Mar. El, 1925.

DUNCAN ROBINSON, 0F ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY.-

GOLF TEE.

Application filed June 23, 1924. Serial No. 721,780.

T 0 all 10710722, it may concern:

Be it known that I, DUNCAN ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlantic City, in the county of Atlantic and State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Golf Tees, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to golf tees and has for its object to provide a tee composed of.

flexible and yielding material having means associated with it to impede the flight of the tee when it is struck accidentally in the act of striking the golf ball supported by it.

Fig. l is a plan View of the tee embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a reverse view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the tee and illustrating the manner of its use.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the tee and a golf ball supported by it. I

Fig. 5 is a'view'illustrating the manner in which the drag or damper opposes the flight of the tee.

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating a tee provided with a plurality of dampers arranged in tandem.

As here shown, the tee embodying the invention comprises the approximately semispherical or convex tee 10 having the hollow or concave interior 11 and the broad open base 12 and a side wall 13 composed of light and resilient material, as soft rubber. Said tee is formed with a relatively small topopening 14 which is adapted to form a seat for the golf ball, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Asthus arranged, the tee may be impelled a considerable distance when accidentally struck by a golf club in the act of striking the ball. It is an object of this invention to provide the tee with means to retard its flight through the air when accidentally struck, and limit the flight to a comparatively short distance. To this end I provide the tee with a damper or drag 15,which damper, preferably, is a portion of an approximate sphere, or is concave on one side and has a convex opening 16 therein and has a wall 17 formed of some light and preferably soft and resilient material, as soft rubber. Said damper is "attached to the tee by a flexible connection as the cord 18, which cord is of substantial length, say about four or five inches. Said cord may be attached to the tee in any suitable manner but, preferably is attached to, as by passing through, the side wall thereof near the base-edge flight, or as a-parachute.

thereof and extends from the inner face of said wall and outwardly through the open base. The cord maybe attached to the damper in any',suitable manner but referably the attachment is such that, in flight, the concave face, or opening, of the damper is presented in the direction of flight, whereby the damper offers its maximum resistance to flight, by reason of its concavity. The connection between said cordandthe damper may be through the three approximately equally spaced strands 20, which strands may pass through the damper in the vicinity-- of its edge, whereby to hold the damper to assume the position shown in Fig. 5 in When the tee is used to support a golf ball, the construction is such that the damper and its connecting cord may be stowed away within the hollow interior of the tee, as illustrated'in Fig. 3 and, for this purpose, the damper is smaller than the tee.

The device has been found to be very effective in use, and the tee is restricted to but relatively short flights when struck.

If desired, I may provide the tee with a plurality of dampers arranged preferably in tandem, as illustrated in Fig. 6; and the end damper may be the smallest in size.

The construction of the tee, also, is such that it offers, alone, considerable resistance to flight.

Extensive use of this golftee has shown the .followingz-This tee offers no appreciable obstruction to the free swing of the club nor to the accuracy of the stroke, as an awkward or weighted tee must necessarily do. Should the club-head hit the tee while making the stroke, the tee will move freely, but, due to its lightness and shape, the movement will be limited and as it will be in the same direction as the flight of the ball, the player may readily recover the tee as he proceeds towards his ball. Should the stroke be clean and true, the tee will be found not to have moved from the position in which it Was placed. The tee is so arranged that it will support the ball properly regardless of the character of the surface on which the tee rests.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture, a olf tee comprising a light, hollow support 0 resilient material having a broad openbase and a small top shaped to form a seat for a golf, ball, a damper arranged to'move with 

